It’s unfortunate that the opinion piece “Re-evalution of online pilot program needed instead of current bailout” (May 5) does not accurately reflect the UC Online Pilot Project.
Although the project has won only one external grant to date, that grant constitutes a very strong endorsement of the project’s mission: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation awarded $748,000 in support of the project’s development of UC-quality online courses and its research into how students learn best in the online setting.
Underscoring the importance of this award is the fact that the UC project was one of 29 selected from more than 600 proposals submitted nationwide.
Seeking funds for the project, UC has approached many external foundations and donors and has been told by some of them that they have a different focus at this juncture. These donors currently are interested in and are funding K-12 and community college online programs, not higher education projects in research universities.
Other than foundations, UC could have turned to for-profit online ventures ““ many of whom would be delighted to be identified with the prestigious University of California. But we are unwilling to lose control of the project ““ something that might occur with such an arrangement.
Instead, the UC Office of the President provided a no-interest, seven-year loan of up to $6.9 million as part of a program which offers seed money to initiatives that could result in systemwide efficiencies.
The truth is this: The project was framed after UC staff spent more than a year analyzing other online programs to see what worked and what didn’t.
Now, as UC faculty begin developing online courses on vibrant subjects such as global warming and ethics and governance, UC President Mark Yudof and I firmly believe this research-based pilot project is exactly what the university should be doing before it maps its path in the burgeoning world of online education.
Lawrence Pitts
Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of
California Office of the President